She left Cape Town university without a degree before going to the Sorbonne in Paris, where she first discovered her love of food.

She learnt to cook at the Cordon Bleu school in London and got a job cooking for a law firm.

It was the start of a notable multi-pronged career around food.

She has written numerous cookbooks including Leith's Bible (together with Caroline Waldegrave). It was the textbook for the successful Leith's School of Food and Wine, which the two started in 1974. She has also written several novels.

Meanwhile her Leith's restaurant earned a Michelin star.

Prue Leith also wrote for various newspapers including The Guardian.

Leith was a long-standing judge on the BBC's Great British Menu, until it was announced that she was leaving the show to be replaced by Andi Oliver.

In March 2017, after much speculation, Prue Leith was confirmed as one of the judges, alongside Paul Hollywood, of The Great British Bake Off, which had moved from the BBC to Channel 4.